AP Psych Sensation and Perception Unit Test

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

sensory receptors

sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Under normal circumstances, sensation and perception...

blend into one, continuous process

Bottom-Up Processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information (sensation, seeing an image for what it is)

Top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations (perception, seeing an image with emotion and picking out parts)

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus (one thing can be focused on at a time)

cocktail party effect

One's ability to attend to one voice among a sea of other faces. If another voice speaks your name, they're instantly brought into consciousness

Things that we deem important seem to...

capture our attention

When we attempt to multitask, in some cases, results can be...

fatal (example: texting and driving can result in a car crash/death)

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (example: basketball-gorilla video)

Attention is powerfully...

selective

Manipulation is easy achievable through...

selective attention (example: pickpocketing someone for magic)

Change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment (example: background-changing game)

Change deafness

failing to notice change in auditory stimulus

Popout

stimuli that draw our eye and demand our attention (obvious changes)

All of our senses...

Receive sensory stimulation, transform stimulation into neural impulses, and deliver the neural information to our brains

Transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies (sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses our brains can interpret.

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Gustav Fechner

A German scientist who studied the edge of awareness of faint stimuli and discovered absolute thresholds

Absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

What does detecting a weak stimulus depend on?

The signal's strength and our psychological state

Signal Detection Theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

What do theorists of the signal detection theory study?

Why people react differently to the same stimuli and why reactions vary as circumstances change

You cannot consciously detect a \__________ stimuli 50% of the time

subliminal

Subliminal Stimuli

stimuli below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Weber's Law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Although sensory adaptation reduces sensitivity, it does...

give us freedom to focus on informative change in our environment and influence how we perceive emotions

Perceptual Set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Expectations influence..

taste perceptions

Through experience, we can form...

concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information

What affects our interpretations?

Immediate context, motives, emotion

extransensory perception (ESP)

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Telepathy

mind to mind communication

clairvoyance

perceiving remote events

precognition

perceiving future events

psychokinesis

ability to move objects with one's mind

If ESP is real, we'd need to...

overturn the scientific understanding that human minds are tied to their physical brains whose perceptual experiences are built of sensations

Parapsychology

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Do psychics actually predict the future?

No ; They guess, and coincidences are bound to happen. They can be very manipulative.

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

sensory receptors

sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Under normal circumstances, sensation and perception...

blend into one, continuous process

Bottom-Up Processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information (sensation, seeing an image for what it is)

Top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations (perception, seeing an image with emotion and picking out parts)

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus (one thing can be focused on at a time)

cocktail party effect

One's ability to attend to one voice among a sea of other faces. If another voice speaks your name, they're instantly brought into consciousness

Things that we deem important seem to...

capture our attention

When we attempt to multitask, in some cases, results can be...

fatal (example: texting and driving can result in a car crash/death)

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (example: basketball-gorilla video)

Attention is powerfully...

Selective

Manipulation is easy achievable through...

selective attention (example: pickpocketing someone for magic)

Change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment (example: background-changing game)

Change deafness

failing to notice change in auditory stimulus

Popout

stimuli that draw our eye and demand our attention (obvious changes)

All of our senses...

Receive sensory stimulation, transform stimulation into neural impulses, and deliver the neural information to our brains

Transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies (sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses our brains can interpret.

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Gustav Fechner

A German scientist who studied the edge of awareness of faint stimuli and discovered absolute thresholds

Absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

What does detecting a weak stimulus depend on?

The signal's strength and our psychological state

Signal Detection Theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

What do theorists of the signal detection theory study?

Why people react differently to the same stimuli and why reactions vary as circumstances change

You cannot consciously detect a \__________ stimuli 50% of the time

subliminal

Subliminal Stimuli

stimuli below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Weber's Law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Although sensory adaptation reduces sensitivity, it does...

give us freedom to focus on informative change in our environment and influence how we perceive emotions

Perceptual Set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Expectations influence..

taste perceptions

Through experience, we can form...

concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information

What affects our interpretations?

Immediate context, motives, emotion

extransensory perception (ESP)

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Telepathy

mind to mind communication

clairvoyance

perceiving remote events

precognition

perceiving future events

psychokinesis

ability to move objects with one's mind

If ESP is real, we'd need to...

overturn the scientific understanding that human minds are tied to their physical brains whose perceptual experiences are built of sensations

Parapsychology

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Do psychics actually predict the future?

No ; They guess, and coincidences are bound to happen. They can be very manipulative.

How are we able to consciously see?

Eyes receiving light and transducing it into neural messages

How do we see color?

When light shines on the substance and reflects that visible wavelength back to your eye

wavelength

the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. varies based on part of the EMS

Hue

dimension of color determined by wavelength of light. how we determine different colors

a light wave's amplitude (height) determines its...

intensity

intensity

the amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave's amplitude (height).

cornea

the eye's clear, protective outer layer, covering the pupil and iris

pupil

the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters (it adjusts to different levels of light)

iris

a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening (dilates/restricts in response to light intensity. also responds to cognitive and emotional status)

lens

the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

accomodation

the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

nearsightedness/myophia

the lens focuses the image on a point in front of the retina, resulting in you seeing near objects clearly, but not far ones

What did Johannes Kepler discover?

the retina recieves upside-down images of the world

How do we see? (general)

Light enters through the pupil, hits the lens and then the retina. the retina's millions of receptor cells convert particles of light energy into neural impulses and forward those to the brain, which reassembles them into an upright image.

rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

cones

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

rods and cones are...

photoreceptors